Think You've Had Enough?

The hits just keep on coming, and for light rail in Portland, Oregon, the tunes all sound the same:  crime, and lots of it.  Obviously, this isn't the fault of the "planners" who consistently push for higher density and more light rail (and who build the stuff even after you vote it down).  Nope, it must be something else.  What could it be?  In a recent comment, DarePDX notes:

In seeing a prsentation on crime from a police officer speaking to a business group he had a map showing the incidents by clusters.

According to the police officer as well as the map the highest crime neighborhoods in Portland all are one block deep off of lightrail.

Obviously, a coincidence.  However, as noted before, there does seem to be a lot of moveable crime associated with the light rail system.  The latest and greatest happened a couple of nights ago, at notorious crime magnet, the 162/Burnside station area.  After a massive, 150-person brawl broke out on Northeast 162nd and Burnside on Friday night, police were out in full force patrolling the area Saturday evening.

That's not a brawl, that's a miniature riot.  Besides Rodriguez, others who live in the area said they'd gotten used to the violence that had been erupting along the MAX tracks.  Several stabbing, shootings and beatings have been reported there over the past 6 months.  Drugs have also been a problem. 

As one commenter noted over at Jack Bog's Blog,

A man was arrested Friday in connection with the robbery of two people at knifepoint on a MAX train and a third robbery of a store.

Portland police said the man robbed two people on a westbound MAX train Friday afternoon and then got off at Southeast 122nd Avenue and East Burnside and robbed a convenience store at the intersection.

Another notes:  The Portland policeman interviewed on KGW actually said to paraphrase, the problem is we have a transportation system that freely transports criminals.

Comments

[Allen]

It obvious with watching TV News coverage of the 162/Burnside area, the report teams are intentionally keeping the cameras at low angles so as not to reveal anything more than the feet of those who are likely causing the problems.

The invisible protective shield is up and working!

So, which minority group is it or are they that is receiving this blackout benefit?

And, how is the innocent taxpayer to protect themselves if they don't know who to avoid and when to call 911?

[David]

I went By there Saturday Evening The Predominant Color was Black. I did See Some Whites and Hispanics also